1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to independent dental endosteal implants and, more specifically, to an abutment assembly that provides flexibility to the restoration without compromising the integrity and biologic requirements of passing through soft tissue and attaching to the implant.
One disadvantage of the prior art is that the feel of masticating different food items is different on implants. Another is that the mastication seems louder to the patient. Furthermore, when seating the crowns and bridges, the slightest misfit will prevent complete seating due to the lack of any flexibility. Another disadvantage of the prior art is that when implants are used next to natural teeth, if they are at the level of the natural teeth, they feel high and in premature occlusion as soon as the teeth are subjected to occlusional forces.
The present invention seeks to overcome these drawbacks by presenting an abutment assembly having a flexible nylon core to provide versatility to the implantation and usage of restorations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are other implant devices designed for the oral cavity. Typical of these is U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,696 issued to Kasama et al. on Mar. 9, 1982.
Another patent was issued to Shimura et al. on Sep. 18, 1990 as U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,437. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,755 was issued to Fukuda on Dec. 29, 1992 and still yet another was issued on Jun. 18, 1996 to Willoughby as U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,182.
Another patent was issued to Willoughby on Feb. 23, 1999 as U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,721. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,505 was issued to Ford on Sep. 21, 1999. Another was issued to Willoughby on Sep. 4, 2001 as U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,753 and still yet another was published on Oct. 21, 2004 to Ilan as U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0209228.
Another patent was issued to Sapian on Nov. 27, 2007 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,300,282. Yet another U.S. Pat. No. 7,682,152 was issued to Ford et al. on Mar. 23, 2010. Another application was published to Zhou on Feb. 27, 2008 as Chinese Patent Application Publication No. CN201026242 and still yet another application was published on Dec. 2, 2009 to Baruc as European Patent Application Publication No. EP2127612.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,696        Inventor: Katsumi Kasama et al.        Issued: Mar. 9, 1982        
The present invention provides an implant artificial denture comprising an intra-ossal implant implanted in the jaw, an elastic material fitted over the head of the intra-ossal implant, a crown of tooth and, if required, a receiver fitted over the head of the intra-ossteal implant, wherein the receiver prevents the elastic material from falling off when chewing and masticatory pressure or shock is applied thereto and the elastic material absorbs the chewing and masticatory pressure or shock applied thereto to prevent lesion of the surrounding tissue, and further provides an implant artificial denture equipped with a chewing load limit sensing device incorporated therein, which aids in preventing lesion of the surrounding tissue.                U.S. Pat. No. 4,957,437        Inventor: Kaizo Shimura et al.        Issued: Sep. 18, 1990        
An artificial tooth comprises a contacting member formed of a composite material having compatibility with living tissues and disposed at an outer portion of the artificial tooth to be contacted with alveolar bone, a metal base member having an opening therein and disposed inside of and attached to the contacting member, a metal post inserted into the opening of the metal base member and at least two elastic buffer members disposed in a space between the metal base member and the metal post. The composite material having compatibility with living tissues contains 40 to 95% by weight of a calcium phosphate compound and 60 to 5% by weight of an organic polymer. Each of the elastic buffer members is spaced apart for movably receiving the metal post by which pressure imposed upon the artificial tooth is transmitted.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,755        Inventor: Hiroshi Fukuda        Issued: Dec. 29, 1992        
A dental implant comprising an artificial root which is embedded in a jaw bone and a post to which an artificial tooth is attached, wherein a stress absorbing member made of a super elastic material is provided in at least a part of the implant between the artificial root and the post. Preferably, a stress absorbing system consisting of a super elastic material member and a polymeric material member is employed.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,182        Inventor: Andrew J. M. Willoughby        Issued: Jun. 18, 1996        
Dental implant abutment systems, related devices, and implantology processes and techniques. The abutment systems include a base that is adapted to mount in nonrotating fashion on any desired dental implant, root form or blade, from any supplier, together with a fixation screw which secures the base to the implant. A core, to which an abutment is cast in customized shape and form as desired is attached to the base preferably in threaded fashion and secured with an appropriate antirotational mechanism. Alternatively, the core and abutment may be formed using CAM processes. Such abutment systems, unlike prevalent conventional systems, do not require a central access bore in the core or abutment components, and they occupy significantly less volume than conventional abutments. Accordingly, abutment systems according to the present invention more flexibly accommodate a wide range of axial inclinations between implant and the overlying crown or prosthesis, preclude loosening of fixation screws, allow precision attachments to be included in the abutments for providing virtually completely passively fitting patient removable prostheses, and save considerable time, effort and expense because of the added simplicity and lower parts inventory required. Also disclosed are tapered gingivectomy procedures for replicating natural tooth emergence which is enhanced by abutments according to the present invention, together with precision attachments, impression copings and analogs, and other peripheral components useful with systems and techniques of the present invention.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,721        Inventor: Andrew J. M. Willoughby        Issued: Feb. 23, 1999        
Dental implant abutment systems, related devices, and implantology processes and techniques. The abutment systems include a base that is adapted to mount in non-rotating fashion on any desired dental implant, root form or blade, from any supplier, together with a fixation screw which secures the base to the implant. A core, to which an abutment is cast in customized shape and form as desired is attached to the base preferably in threaded fashion and secured with an appropriate anti-rotational mechanism. Alternatively, the core and abutment may be formed using CAM processes. Such abutment systems, unlike prevalent conventional systems, do not require a central access bore in the core or abutment components, and they occupy significantly less volume than conventional abutments. Accordingly, abutment systems according to the present invention more flexibly accommodate a wide range of axial inclinations between implant and the overlying crown or prosthesis, preclude loosening of fixation screws, allow precision attachments to be included in the abutments for providing virtually completely passively fitting patient removable prostheses, and save considerable time, effort and expense because of the added simplicity and lower parts inventory required. Also disclosed are tapered gingivectomy procedures for replicating natural tooth emergence which is enhanced by abutments according to the present invention, together with precision attachments, impression copings and analogs, and other peripheral components useful with systems and techniques of the present invention.                U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,505        Inventor: Christopher W. Ford        Issued: Sep. 21, 1999        
The preferred embodiment consists primarily of an anchor for implantation into the patient's crestal bone or other suitable bony structure, an insert which is flexibly received within the anchor and would be mounted so as to allow modulation of forces being transferred from the insert to the anchor. The insert would also act as a platform for mounting the prosthetic or artificial tooth. The prosthesis allows elastic movement of the artificial tooth along three orthogonal axes.                U.S. Pat. No. 6,283,753        Inventor: Andrew J. M. Willoughby        Issued: Sep. 4, 2001        
Dental implant abutment systems, related devices, and implantology processes and techniques. The abutment systems include a base that is adapted to mount in nonrotating fashion on any desired dental implant, root form or blade, from any supplier, together with a fixation screw which secures the base to the implant. A core, to which an abutment is cast in customized shape and form as desired is attached to the base preferably in threaded fashion and secured with an appropriate antirotational mechanism. Alternatively, the core and abutment may be formed using CAM processes. Such abutment systems, unlike prevalent conventional systems, do not require a central access bore in the core or abutment components, and they occupy significantly less volume than conventional abutments. Accordingly, abutment systems according to the present invention more flexibly accommodate a wide range of axial inclinations between implant and the overlying crown or prosthesis, preclude loosening of fixation screws, allow precision attachments to be included in the abutments for providing virtually completely passively fitting patient removable prostheses, and save considerable time, effort and expense because of the added simplicity and lower parts inventory required. Also disclosed are tapered gingivectomy procedures for replicating natural tooth emergence which is enhanced by abutments according to the present invention, together with precision attachments, impression copings and analogs, and other peripheral components useful with systems and techniques of the present invention.                U.S. Patent Number 2004/0209228        Inventor: Daniel Ilan        Published: Oct. 21, 2004        
The present invention relates to a polymeric implant, especially useful for dental medicine. More specifically, the present invention relates to a polymerizable device comprising an artificial tooth's root and an abutment anchored therein and to a kit comprising interalia the same. The present invention also relates to a method for implanting said implant in the alveolar bore of previously extracted tooth.                U.S. Pat. No. 7,300,282        Inventor: Schubert L. Sapian        Issued: Nov. 27, 2007        
A biofunctional dental implant wherein a crown portion is connected to a root portion without the use of the conventional short screws, or the like. A flexible abutment projects upwardly from the root portion, and the crown portion is positioned in surrounding engagement with the flexible abutment. A threaded abutment post is advanced through the flexible abutment and into receipt by the root portion. The advancement of the abutment post through the flexible abutment generates an outward pushing force for causing a plurality of flexible splines of the abutment to bend outwardly and into engagement with an elastomeric cap of the crown portion for holding the crown portion atop the root portion. In one preferred embodiment, a replacement crown portion is detachably connected to an existing root portion by way of a removable abutment screw so as to enable a broken or worn crown portion to be removed and replaced without the need for a new surgery.                U.S. Pat. No. 7,682,152        Inventor: Christopher W. Ford        Issued: Mar. 23, 2010        
A dental implant assembly (20) including a core body (40, 140, 240, 340, 440) for engaging a tooth-replicating device (52). The core body (40, 140, 240, 340, 440) is disposed in an anchor body (24, 124, 224, 424), and a screw cap body (58) is disposed about the outer attachment surface (30, 130, 230, 430) of the anchor body (24, 124, 224, 424). The screw cap body (58) engages the bone (22) of a person to support the dental implant assembly (20) and holds the core body (40, 140, 240, 340, 440) and the anchor body (24, 124, 224, 424) together.                China Patent Application Publication No. CN201026242        Inventor: Fengjian Zhou et al.        Published: Feb. 27, 2008        
The utility model pertains to the oral medicine technical field, in particular to the dental implant technique. To reduce the troublesome process of the dental implant operation, the pile body and the base pile of present two-section dental implant are combined into an integrated dental implant. The integrated dental implant is divided into a root part and a coronal part, wherein the root part is provided with external screw threads and the root part can also be made into a branching root with 1-4 dental feet. The combined dental implant is made of nylon material or aramid fiber. Compared with prior two-section dental implant, the utility model has the advantage that the operation is more easy and convenient; the patient's pain is less; the operation is time saving and can be successful at one time; the price is lower, greatly reducing the period of treatment and the weight; and the load on the jaw bone is relieved. In use, the dental implant is very easy to hone into shape, so that the operation is more convenient and fast and the patient is more comfortable.                European Patent Application Publication EP2127612        Inventor: Daniel Baruc        Issued: Dec. 2, 2009        
An abutment assembly device (115) comprises an abutment (122) for supporting a dental prosthesis (102). The abutment (122) includes a supporting surface (124) and an internal cavity with a rimmed opening, a hollow retainer wherein at least a portion of the retainer is flexible allowing that portion of the retainer to be inserted through the rimmed opening and snap into position retained by the rimmed opening. A screw for engaging the abutment assembly device (115) with an implant is provided, comprising a screw body and a screw head, wherein the screw head is wider than the screw body so that when the screw is inserted through the retainer and the retainer is retained by the rimmed opening, the screw head is retained by the retainer.
There are other dental endosteal implant abutments for replacing missing teeth. While these implants may be suitable for the purposes for which they were designed, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.